
09/07/2025
THE MISSING PHONE (Episode 1)
The day started like any other. I woke up to the irritating vibration of my alarm at exactly 6:30 a.m., the familiar buzz under my pillow dragging me out of the little sleep I managed to get in our stuffy, always-hot room. My name is Collins, 20 years old, a second-year Sociology student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Life on campus isn’t luxury—especially not in our hostel—but it has its vibe.
My room was a complete mess. It always was. Scattered books, leftover food packs, half-washed clothes hanging on nails driven into cracked walls, an empty indomie carton doubling as a stool. The air smelled like a confused mix of body spray, dirty laundry, and old spaghetti sauce. The ceiling fan creaked loudly every time it rotated, as though begging for retirement.
My roommate, Adebayo, was still snoring on the top bunk, his leg dangling awkwardly. We weren’t best friends or anything, but we had become something close over the past year. We shared food, gist, and, unfortunately, the same air.
After dragging myself to the overcrowded bathroom for a cold bucket bath, I returned to change and prepare for class. I remember clearly putting my phone back under my pillow. My Samsung Galaxy A32—my baby. That phone had my class notes, bank app, social media, all my pictures. Everything.
Classes were long and exhausting that day. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., one lecture hall to another, fighting for seats, dodging lecturers' questions. When I finally trudged back to the room, all I could think of was lying down and bingeing YouTube videos.
But as I lifted my pillow, my heart skipped.
No phone.
I checked again. Nothing.
I pulled off the bedsheet, threw my pillow across the room, flipped the mattress, and stared at the exposed wood underneath. Still nothing.
I felt my chest tighten.
I turned to Adebayo, who was lounging on his bunk, legs crossed, scrolling casually through his own phone like the world wasn’t crashing beneath me.
“Guy, you see my phone?” I asked, trying to sound calm.
He looked up, eyebrows raised. “Your phone? You no carry am go class?”
“No. I left it under my pillow.”
He got down from his bunk and started ‘helping’ me search. His movements felt exaggerated. He opened the locker, looked under the table, even checked the bathroom bucket like my phone had grown legs and gone for a bath.
“Omo, nawa o,” he said, his voice carrying this weird mix of sympathy and disbelief. “Maybe na those guys wey dey play draft outside. Maybe dem enter come carry am.”
I wasn’t convinced, but I nodded. My thoughts were all over the place. I remembered clearly using the phone to snooze the alarm. It didn’t make sense.
I barely slept that night. I lay on my back, staring at the cracked ceiling. My mind racing. Who could’ve taken it? Did I misplace it? Did someone sneak in while I was out?
But Adebayo was around, wasn’t he?
Or was he?
My room suddenly felt like a trap. Every familiar object started to look suspicious. And the one person I shared this space with... I started seeing him differently.
That night was the beginning of a long, bitter truth unraveling itself.
(To be continued...)